Caution: Even Lightning is Sick of Selfies

Always use caution when taking selfies. Otherwise, you might get struck by lightning.

That’s nearly what happened to Luis Morales Fukutake and his girlfriend a couple weeks ago. The couple were on vacation in Akumal, Mexico, when a thunderstorm started rolling in to the area where Fukutake and a few friends were going to go snorkeling. The lifeguards weren’t having any of that, and emptied out the beach. Naturally, when the lifeguards tell you to vacate, and there’s a thunderstorm coming, the next logical step is to take a selfie.

They tried, but a lightning strike went off like an explosion in the foliage behind them, knocking their GoPro (featuring weather-resistant casing!) to the ground. They didn’t get the ideal selfie, but they did get video of the whole ordeal, which is probably better than the selfie when you consider how many YouTube hits Fukutake has scored. You know, as long as you ignore the whole part about significant risk of bodily harm. But no one ever made a hit YouTube video being safe!